Study Details Needs Left Unmet for Handicapped

Inadequate housing, limited health care and unreliable public transportation keep many of Orange County’s 374,000 disabled people from being self-supporting, according to a major survey released Wednesday.

The $31,000 survey of people with physical and mental disabilities was conducted by the Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled, which received funds for the project from the California Community Foundation, which aids Southland community groups.

The study found unmet needs in 31 areas. It is believed to be among the most comprehensive looks at the needs of disabled people as identified by the disabled themselves, according to Brenda Premo, executive director of the Dayle McIntosh Center in Anaheim.

Uses for Findings

The survey’s findings will be used in planning by Concerns 2000, a new group seeking expanded rights for the disabled, Premo said, and will also be used to lobby elected officials to improve programs for the disabled.

“Organizations are willing to make changes if you can show them with hard numbers that by doing things differently they will save money and make themselves look better,” Premo said.

“What affects people with disabilities also affects the general community,” she added.

The study’s findings are based on a poll of 1,100 disabled people that began a year ago. The study was time-consuming because poll participants could not be contacted directly, and instead had to be recruited indirectly through about 40 groups for the disabled in the county, Premo said. Also, eight forums were held last fall, at which lengthy discussions took place on how to improve disabled services.

The survey is an attempt to demonstrate with statistics and other hard data that it is in the self-interest of the general population to support efforts to improve conditions for those with orthopedic impairments, neurological disorders and other handicaps, Premo said.

The survey was unveiled in Santa Ana at a “town hall” meeting on issues confronting the disabled in the county.

Those polled said the five most critical areas of need or concern are:

- Housing that is both affordable and physically accessible to the disabled is practically non-existent.

- Health care, which most disabled receive through Medicare and MediCal, is inadequate.

- Discounts for goods and services should be offered to the disabled as they are to senior citizens.

- The is a belief that local government fails to respond adequately to the needs of the disabled. A majority of disabled people are registered voters, but they told pollsters they have no voice in shaping legislative solutions to problems of the handicapped. Many said they do not know how to contact elected officials.

- There is a feeling of helplessness and lack of access to information that would aid the disabled in getting assistance in such areas as transportation, housing and vocational training.

The survey and the promised efforts of Concerns 2000 to implement its findings were praised by spokesmen for government and private agencies that serve the disabled.

Robert A. Griffith, chief deputy director of Orange County Social Services, said county government is unable to fund such studies because of time and budgetary constraints, which require agencies to focus on immediate problems rather than exploring needs that may be going unmet.

The statistics and other data contained in the survey will help county government make better allocations of limited funds available for disabled programs, he said.

Currently, Orange County spends more than $17 million annually to provide 4,300 disabled county residents with transportation to doctors’ appointments, housekeeping and other so-called in-home supportive services, Griffiths said.

But less than half those eligible for this program apply for assistance, he said.

“It’s not that they lack knowledge about the availability of these programs,” he said. “Instead, they don’t know (the procedures involved in applying for) the programs.”

Also at Wednesday night’s meeting, a recruiting drive was launched by Concerns 2000, whose members are drawn from the ranks of the handicapped, care providers and government agencies.

The advocacy organization plans to form small study groups among those recruited. The aim of those groups will be to develop strategies for lobbying politicians, agency heads and others who control funding needed to help the disabled lead independent lives.